


I'm Glad You're Alive, Asshole

by Pixial



Category: Original Work
Genre: Healthy Communication, Married Relationship, Near Death Experience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 15:37:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14793239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixial/pseuds/Pixial
Summary: Jay's got a bad habit of giving his wife a heart attack every time he launches himself at his enemies. And yes, we mean launch quite literally.





	I'm Glad You're Alive, Asshole

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a tumblr prompt! These feature my own ocs, who I really need to write more about.

It was dark, his consciousness surrounded by absolute nothingness. He floated in that nothingness for an eternity, unable to feel anything other than a vague sense of annoyance. There was something he was in the middle of, something important, and the nothingness was clearly preventing him from continuing. But there wasn’t much to be done for it. He was stuck, lost and adrift.

Until the world slammed back into him in a starburst of sheer, unadulterated _agony_.

“Ow…” Jayson Stormrider, Champion of the Mortal Realm and Knight of the Wilde Court, cracked his eyes open, wincing as soon as he realized his colossal mistake. He was on his back, and everything hurt. That was pretty much the most important pieces of information he had readily available. It felt like he’d been run over by three trucks and then slammed into a wall by a fourth. Whatever he’d landed on was unyielding and cracked. One of his wings was bent underneath him at an uncomfortable angle. He shifted, holding his breath as it screamed at him. He didn’t think it was broken, but considering his entire body felt like one giant bruise, he could very well have missed something.

“Jay! Jay are you alright? I swear if you’ve died on me…” The voice was a familiar one, one that made his heart soar and ignited impulses to sing impromptu musical numbers. Granted, he _usually_ had impulses to sing impromptu musical numbers, but these were special.

“I’m alive, Mari,” he croaked, opening his eyes again to see the lady of his heart, love of his life, queen of his world, and other and sundry titles of romance and adoration leaning over him with a look of worry. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just make out what looked to be the edge of a smouldering crater. “Dead would not hurt this much.”

The look of worry transitioned to extreme irritation in a heartbeat. Dark eyes glared down at him, and had he the strength to swallow, he would’ve. “What the _hell_ were you thinking?” Maria had a knack for the sort of glare that set a person shaking on his knees. As it was, Jay couldn’t actually get on his knees, so he just looked up at her with what he hoped was the right amount of contrition.

It apparently wasn’t enough. Ah well, wasn’t the first lecture he’d listened to while lying in a fiery crater on top of what he assumed was the altar that had been the epicenter of a nasty end-of-the-world ritual that he’d been trying to stop. He also assumed that if his wife was yelling at him that he had been successful.

“What happened to the cultists?” he asked suddenly, trying to sit up. Their leader was dead; he distinctly remembered driving a sword through the heart of the sorcerer driving his followers to insanity. He’d wanted to bring about immortality by devouring the heart of the faerie world or some nonsense, which wouldn’t have _worked_ but it would’ve messed shit up in a major way. Typical Tuesday, honestly.

“Don’t change the subject,” his wife scolded, placing her hand on his shoulder to keep him from sitting up. “And Austin and Ziah are rounding them up. _You_ are going to sit here and rest until we can get you home.”

Jay opened his mouth. She glared at him. He closed his mouth. For a moment at least.

“In my defense, it worked.” The glare grew hotter, ironic for someone who worked with ice, but he supposed that was semantics.

“Oh, yeah! Hurling yourself into a swirling vortex of lightning and _unknown magics_ was _absolutely_ a good idea.” Maria snapped as she brushed her hair behind her shoulder, her hand shaking ever so slightly. Jay reached out to her, sensing there was more than just the usual “I’m glad you’re alive, asshole” routine in the works.

Her eyes softened, and she sat closer, helping him up to a slightly more comfortable position. Jay frowned; wondering at the sorrow that shone in her eyes. He was alive; that usually wasn’t a sad affair. “Jay… You can’t keep _doing_ this. I know, you’ve got your duties as Champion, but you can’t keep throwing yourself towards this stuff. Sooner or later your luck is going to run out, and then…” She trailed off, her hand gesturing towards vague unknowns. She didn’t have to continue.

Jay took her hand, feeling his heart ache in pain of a different flavor. The past few years had not been kind, not to anyone. Maria knew more than anyone just how close he had come to the edge, and it killed him that she _understood_ that. And he wasn’t making it any easier. He had promised to do better, and he was failing miserably at that.

“You’re right,” he said softly. “I wasn’t thinking.” More words bit at his tongue, heated arguments in his defense that no, he wasn’t seeking death for once. He’d been 95% certain he’d survive this time. But it wasn’t time for those words. There wasn’t really a time for those words. Not when they’d hurt his wife. So he throttled them down with a will and held her close.

“I wish you would,” she said just as softly, tucking her head on his shoulder. Jay bravely bit back a scream of pain. “It’s terrifying, to watch you and not be able to know what you’re thinking.”

“There were a lot of swear words this time.”

“Jay. We’re having a moment.”

“Sorry, sorry!”

Maria sniffed, almost a laugh. Jay counted that as a win. “You’re a handful, you know that?”

“But I’m _your_ handful.”

Jay grinned at her, moving his wings (miraculously not broken) to hide them from view. In the distance, he could hear a handful of screams and fire blasts ringing out. None of those screams were people he knew, and the fire blasts were certainly the work of people he did, so he decided he could deal with that later. Maria was more important. She was _usually_ more important.

“I’m sorry I scared you,” he whispered, resting his chin on her head. “I promise. I’m getting better with that.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I believe you, it’s just…”

“Habits are habits,” he finished. “I know. That’s what my therapist said.”

“Jay. He’s not your therapist; he’s your monthly chess opponent. He is also the sidhe who used to want you dead and only stopped wanting you dead because you agreed to give him an alliance. ”

“… Okay when you put it like that…”

Maria laughed, and Jay felt his heart give another pang as he heard the release of sorrow in her exasperation. “You’re a mess.”

“I’m _your_ mess.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you are. I’m glad you’re alive, asshole.”


End file.
